Sam Burns Hoping for Redemption at The Open Championship After Heartbreaking Loss at U.S. Open

Last month, Sam Burns finished 2nd at the U.S. Open, 1 shot behind Wyndham Clark after missing a birdie putt on the final hole.

Sam Burns Hoping for Redemption at The Open Championship After Heartbreaking Loss at U.S. Open

Sam Burns (Image via PGA Tour)

Sam Burns will enter the final round of The Open Championship with a 2-shot lead. The American golfer will be hoping for redemption after his heartbreaking loss at the U.S. Open last month.

At Shinnecock Hills in New York in June, Burns found himself 7 shots behind runaway leader Wyndham Clark at the start of the final round. In major golf history, only once had a player lost the tournament after leading by 6 or more strokes at the end of the 3rd round.

So Burns had a huge mountain to climb. He also reached the peak as Clark had some early troubles in the final round on Sunday. On the par-4 18th hole, the 5-time PGA Tour winner had a birdie putt to tie Clark for the lead.

Unfortunately for him, his ball went agonizingly wide of the hole. He fell to his knees in the moment and went on to make par.

Clark kept his composure and made par on the final hole to finish 1-shot ahead of Burns. In the press conference, Burns was left emotional and moved to tears.

In a month, a few things have changed for the golfer. Two weeks ago, his wife gave birth to their daughter Belle.

At that point, Burns was not sure whether he should tee off at the Royal Birkdale this week. Following some encouragement from his wife, he flew to the United Kingdom for this event.

Following an opening round score of 73, which included 3 successive bogeys at the end, Burns went low and carded a round of 62 on Friday. He kept this momentum on Saturday and shot a score of 65 with 6 birdies and 1 bogey.

After 3 days of play, the 29-year-old is 10-under par for the tournament and has a 2-shot lead heading into the final round. On Sunday, he will enter the course alongside Ryan Fox in the final group and hope to take home the Claret Jug with a victory.

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Sam Burns defends Bryson DeChambeau following LIV Golf star’s 2-shot penalty at The Open

Sam Burns jumped up several positions on Friday with his low score of 62. Following the penalty drama of Bryson DeChambeau, he found himself being grouped with the LIV Golf star for the third round. In the press conference on Saturday, Burns defended DeChambeau over this.

Sam Burns and Bryson DeChambeau
Sam Burns and Bryson DeChambeau (Image via X/@NUCLRGOLF)

On Friday, DeChambeau wrapped up his round with a 4-under par score following 5 birdies and 1 bogey. This bogey on the 5th hole was changed to a triple bogey as the R&A officials determined that he had improved his lie and handed him a 2-shot penalty.

This saw DeChambeau go from solo 2nd to T5, 3 shots behind Lucas Herbert. Despite his arguments, the officials did not listen to him.

It appeared that the 2-time major champion would walk away from the tournament following this ruling. However, he did arrive at the field and played alongside Burns. He shot a score of 69 and finished the day 4 shots behind him.

With DeChambeau’s penalty incident being one of the talking points of The Open, Burns was asked his opinion on it. The Louisiana-born star expressed that he (DeChambeau) did not deserve the penalty.

In my personal opinion, I honestly feel bad for Bryson in the situation that he was in. From my perspective, I didn’t feel like maybe there was enough evidence for him to deserve a penalty there. I feel bad for him. I think he played an incredible round of golf late yesterday.

Sam Burns told the reporters

The attention now turns towards the final round. Burns’ best performance in this event came in 2024 when he finished T31. Unless something drastic happens, he will likely improve this record a bit.

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